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W. H. SAWYER. TELEBHQNE CENTRAL OFFICE APPARATUS.

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ATENT WILLIAM H. SAWYER, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

TELEPHONE CENTRAL-OFFICE APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 246,218, dated August 23, 1881. Application filed June 21, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SAWYER, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone (Jentral-Office Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures ofreference marked there on, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to. means of communication between the desks or tables of atelephone-exchange of a central office, whereby the different operators may give instructions to one another in regard to making connections between subscribers circuits terminating at difl'erent tables or desks.

Heretofore when an operator received at his desk or table a call from a subscriber who wished to be placed in communication with a subscriber on aline terminating at some other table the operator would make the necessary arrangements at his own table,and then write upon a card the letter or number of his table, the number of the subscriber calling, the number of the subscriber called, and the number of the plug-strip uponwhich he had arranged for making the connection. This card he would send by a boy to the operator at the table at which terminated the line or circuit of the subscriber called. The operator receiving the card would then make the necessary connections, cancel the card, and return it to the first operator, to inform him that the connection had been made. The first operator would retain the cards thus returned to him until some designated time, when he would return them in to the book-keeper, who would make his entries therefrom. In this system there was a great deal of trouble in securing the services of the boys when wanted, and more or less confusion, resulting from the necessary talking in giving them instructions, and from thernoise of the walking back and forth, the supply of cards constantly required replenishing, and the book-keeper was sometimes greatly hurried with his work by receiv- The object of my invention is to obviate all these difficulties and inconveniences; and to this end it consists, generally, in providing a central telephone-exchange office witha table, which I denominate a clearing-table, and connecting all the terminal desks or tables with this clearing-table by a large tube with branches or by separate tubes having such an inclination that a ball placed therein at one of the terminal desks or tables will roll therefrom to the clearing-table, while from said, clearing-table there leads a separate tube to each of the line-terminal tables, and having such an inclination that balls will roll therein from the clearing-table to the linetables. These balls are provided with properlyarranged flat faces, which will not interfere with their rolling,aud upon which may be inscribed similar information to that transmitted by means of the cards, as herein before described. An operator at a given table, on receiving a call, will inscribe the proper information upon the faces of the ball and place it in the tube leading from his table on a downward inclination to the clearing-table, where it will be received by an attendant, who will place it in that tube leading downwardly from the clearing-table to the line-terminal table, where the tube to the line-terminal table, from whence it originally came, ready for use again. The

whole operation is performed with great rapidity without the necessity of a single step upon the floor or the utterance of a single word. Each of the line-terminal tables should be supplied with a number of balls having the letter or other designating-mark of the table permanently inscribed thereon, or the balls of the several tables may have different colors. The halls may be made of slate or a similar substance, and the inscriptions made thereon with an ordinary slate-pencil; or the balls may be made of ivory or a suitable composition, and the inscriptions made with an ordinary lead-pencil.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of four lineterminal tables and a clearing-table connected with tubes, according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a reduced plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of one of the balls.

The letters A, B, O, and 1) respectively designate the line-terminal table.

E is the clearing-table, having a back board, f, and provided at about the center of its top with a trongh q, having in its bottom indentations for holding steady the balls which arrive therein.

The letter H designates a main tube terminating over the inner end of the trough and leading upwardly on a proper inclination between the tables A and B, and terminating at its upper end between the tables 0 and D. From this pipe lateral branches h h ]L3 It extend obliquely across the end walls of the several terminal tables, terminating at or near the front edges of said walls at points a little above the line of the main pipe, so that said branches incline downwardlyto the said main pipe. A pipe, I, inclines downwardly from a funnel, 0', supported in the back board,f, of the clearing-table, and terminates in branch i, leading obliquely downward across the end board or table, A, this branch t" terminating immediately over a box, 11, arranged upon the table to receive the balls from the pipe. A pipe, K, leads from a funnel, is, to the table B, and longer pipes L and M lead from funnels l and m, respectively, to the tables 0 and I), where they join with downwardly-inclined branches 1 and m, terminating over boxes at, the same as at table A.

The letter 0 designates the boxes which hold the supply of balls for use at each table.

In the enlarged view, Fig. 3, the letter I designates one of the balls which form the medium of communication through the tubes. This ball is provided with four flat faces, one of which,p, bears permanently the designatingmark of one of the line-terminal tables-for instance, the letter A-and the others,p, are to receive the inscriptions of the information which the operator at table A desires to communicate to the operator at another table in relation to making connections. These inscriptions also serve as memoranda, from whichthe book-keeper can make his charges against the several subscribers.

The operation of my imention is as follows: Let us suppose that the operator at table A has received a call from Station No.25 on a line terminating at his table, and that this subscriber has signified thathe wishes to be placed in communication with asubscribcr, 175, who is on a line which terminates at table D. The operator takes from his box 0 one of the balls, and on the vacant facep, next below theletter of the table A, inscribes the number, 25, which is the number of the station calling, and on the face next below this he inscribes the number 175, which is the number of the station with which he desires Station No. 25 to be connected. On the last face 12 he inscribes the number of the plug-strip upon which he has arranged that the connection shall be made-say 2, as shown in Fig. 3. The ball being thus inscribed, the operator places it in the mouth of the branch pipe h, through which it rolls to the mainpipe H, which discharges it in trough g. Immediately on its arrival the attendant at the clearingtable seizes it and observes, as is his duty, the middle one of the faces 12. This face he finds inscribed with the number 175, and knowing that to be the number of a station on a line terminating at table D, he immediately places the ball in the funnel 121, whence it rolls into pipe M, and is conveyed by it to table D, bein g discharged through the branch m into the box a at that table. The operator at table D hearing the ball fall seizes it, and finding the number 175 inscribed thereon, he calls up subscriber 175, and on receiving an answer from him inserts the necessary plug in strip 2 to connect the line on which the subscriber is located with the line on which the Subscriber No.25 is located. This being done, he crosses over the faces of the ball, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 3,-places the ballin the branch tube h", through which it passes to main tube H, which carries it back to the clearing-table. The attendant at the clearing-table receiving the ball, and seeing it crossed hands it to the book-keeper, who makes his entries, eff-aces the inscriptions on thefaces p, and returns the ball through tube I to table A, from whence it came originally.

It is obvious that instead of using a main tube, H, with lateral branches, I may use a separate tube for conveying the balls from each ofthe line-terminal tables to theclearing-table; and, further, instead of running the tubes to and from the clearin g-tables to the line-terminal tables, I may arrange tubes to lead directly from one line-terminal table to another. In this case three tubes would lead on downward inclinations from each table, and terminate at the other three tables, respectively, so that each table would have three out-going and three incoming tables, the manner of using such an arrangement of tubes being obvious.

Having now thus described my invention and explained the operation thereof, what I claim is-- 1. In a telephone central station, the combination, with several lineterminal tables or desks, of inclined tubes arranged to convey balls, substantiallyas described,from each table to the others, for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with the line-terminal tables and the clearing-table, of pipes leading on a downward inclination from each linc-terand having the lateral branches leading to the minal table to the clearing-table, and other several line-terminal tables, substantially as pipes leading from the clearing-table on downdescribed. ward inclination to each of the line-terminal In testimony whereof I affix my signature 5 tables. b h h l in presence oftwc witnesses.

3. The coin'ination. wit t e inc-terminal tables and the clearing-table, having pipes WILLIAM SAWYER' leading therefrom separately downward to each Witnesses of said line-terminal tables, of the main pipe GEORGE B. BARROWS, 10 H, inclined downwardly t0 the clearing-table, JOSEPHINE S. BARROWS. 

